Mattias Samuelsson has become a Ruff favorite early on. Samuelsson is an easy guy to get along with on and off the ice, and he plays the style of game that is easy for Ruff to respect. So it made sense when Ruff gave Samuelsson one of the four A’s. But it wasn’t something Samuelsson saw coming.

Ondrej Palat has won the Stanley Cup twice. He's won a gold medal with the Czech Republic at the world championships.

The Buffalo Sabres open the season Friday against the New Jersey Devils. Lindy Ruff is the head coach and he and general manager Kevyn Adams have said that the time is now. Adams made moves to make this team faster,